Learn how to talk about activities
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Chuck: This is Intermediate Series Lesson 2. |
| Judith: [Willkommen zurück]. |
| Chuck: Welcome back. I'm glad you’re with us again for another intermediate lesson. |
| Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to discuss the night’s entertainment. |
| Chuck: Whether you’re watching TV, going out, washing the dishes. |
| Judith: Big difference. The conversation is between Mike and his friend. |
| Chuck: As the speakers are friends, they’ll be speaking informal German. |
| Judith: [Aber bevor wir uns die Unterhaltung anhören, habe ich eine Frage]. |
| Chuck: You have a question? |
| Judith: Yeah, I want to know when was the last time you commented? |
| Chuck: Ah yes. I'm sure it was sometime this week. Great question. |
| Judith: Stop by GermanPod101, leave us a comment or just say hi. |
| Chuck: Alright, you heard her. After this lesson, don’t forget to comment. So, let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: So, da bin ich wieder! |
| D: Willkommen zurück! Was möchtest du jetzt machen? |
| A: Hmm... ich bin sehr müde, aber es ist noch zu früh, um schlafen zu gehen. Vielleicht schaue ich mir noch etwas Basketball im Fernsehen an und trinke das Bier... |
| D: Basketball?? Ich schaue gerade Bundesliga, Bayern München gegen VfB Stuttgart! Das ist spannend! Es wäre Unsinn, da wegzuschalten. |
| A: Oh. Die Bundesliga interessiert mich nicht wirklich. Hast du nicht einen zweiten Fernseher? |
| D: Nein. Ich wohne doch alleine, wozu brauche ich da einen zweiten Fernseher?! |
| A: Was soll ich dann tun, um nicht schon um 9 Uhr einzuschlafen? Hast du einen Vorschlag? Hast du vielleicht etwas zu tun für mich? |
| D: Du könntest das Geschirr spülen. |
| A: Danke! |
| Judith: Now read slowly. |
| A: So, da bin ich wieder! |
| D: Willkommen zurück! Was möchtest du jetzt machen? |
| A: Hmm... ich bin sehr müde, aber es ist noch zu früh, um schlafen zu gehen. Vielleicht schaue ich mir noch etwas Basketball im Fernsehen an und trinke das Bier... |
| D: Basketball?? Ich schaue gerade Bundesliga, Bayern München gegen VfB Stuttgart! Das ist spannend! Es wäre Unsinn, da wegzuschalten. |
| A: Oh. Die Bundesliga interessiert mich nicht wirklich. Hast du nicht einen zweiten Fernseher? |
| D: Nein. Ich wohne doch alleine, wozu brauche ich da einen zweiten Fernseher?! |
| A: Was soll ich dann tun, um nicht schon um 9 Uhr einzuschlafen? Hast du einen Vorschlag? Hast du vielleicht etwas zu tun für mich? |
| D: Du könntest das Geschirr spülen. |
| A: Danke! |
| Judith: Now with the translation. |
| A: So, da bin ich wieder! |
| A: So, I'm back. |
| D: Willkommen zurück! Was möchtest du jetzt machen? |
| D: Welcome back! What would you like to do now? |
| A: Hmm... ich bin sehr müde, aber es ist noch zu früh, um schlafen zu gehen. Vielleicht schaue ich mir noch etwas Basketball im Fernsehen an und trinke das Bier... |
| A: Hmm... I am very tired, but it is still to early to go to bed. Maybe I will watch a little basketball on TV and drink a little beer… |
| D: Basketball?? Ich schaue gerade Bundesliga, Bayern München gegen VfB Stuttgart! Das ist spannend! Es wäre Unsinn, da wegzuschalten. |
| D: Basketball?? I am now watching the federal league of Soccer, Bayern Munich against VfB Stuttgart! That's exciting! It would be nonsense to change that. |
| A: Oh. Die Bundesliga interessiert mich nicht wirklich. Hast du nicht einen zweiten Fernseher? |
| A: Oh, the federal league doesn't really interest me. Don't you have a second TV? |
| D: Nein. Ich wohne doch alleine, wozu brauche ich da einen zweiten Fernseher?! |
| D: No, I do live alone. Why would I need a second TV?! |
| A: Was soll ich dann tun, um nicht schon um 9 Uhr einzuschlafen? Hast du einen Vorschlag? Hast du vielleicht etwas zu tun für mich? |
| A: What should I do and not already go to bed at nine o'clock? Do you have a recommendation? Do you have something I could do? |
| D: Du könntest das Geschirr spülen. |
| D: You could go wash the dishes. |
| A: Danke! |
| A: Thanks! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: I think when you were traveling abroad, you often stayed with a host family or with another student. What happened? Was it like this? |
| Chuck: It was quite similar, but we’d often just play something in the evening or… |
| Judith: Oh, I forgot you’re a board games fan. |
| Chuck: What else are you going to do in Germany? Come on. |
| Judith: Oh, think in Germany. What about the other countries? |
| Chuck: Oh, yeah, as long as you just sit up talking late at night but, I don't know, this [inaudible 00:01:33] our big TV fans. |
| Judith: Well, you’re not either. It works. |
| Chuck: Oh plus, if you’re in a foreign country you usually can’t understand what’s on TV anyway so it’s kind of boring after a while. |
| Judith: I guess with sports you could. |
| Chuck: Unless you’re in Holland, then you can watch the commercials, they’re hilarious. |
| Judith: Ok, thanks for recommendation. Let’s look at some vocabulary. |
| Chuck: You heard it on GermanPod101 first. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: First word, [Um]. |
| Chuck: In order to. |
| Judith: [Um] |
| Chuck: Isn’t it also “around”? |
| Judith: Yes, [Um herum] is “around something”. And [Um, Um neun Uhr for example] is a preposition to be used with the times of the day. |
| Chuck: Ok. |
| Judith: But in this case we’re talking of the conjunction, [Um], which starts a sub clause. |
| Chuck: Alright. |
| Judith: Next word, [Schauen] or [Anschauen]. |
| Chuck: To watch. |
| Judith: [Anschauen, anschauen] |
| Chuck: To watch. |
| Judith: If you use it with the [An] the meaning barely changes, but you have to allow the [An] to split off. |
| Chuck: Is [Gucken] also good for this sentence or not? |
| Judith: Yeah, [Gucken] also works in the sense of watching TV but [Schauen] is a different word. |
| Chuck: Alright. |
| Judith: So, [Fernsehen]. |
| Chuck: TV. |
| Judith: Yeah, television. It’s the programming, the [inaudible 00:03:00] if you want. [Fernsehen, Fernsehen] |
| Chuck: So it’s literally “far seeing”. |
| Judith: Yes. |
| Chuck: Like you’re literally seeing far away something happening. |
| Judith: And the word is neuter. |
| Chuck: [Das Fernsehen] |
| Judith: Yes. Related is also the verb, which is also [Fernsehen] but with a small F. |
| Chuck: Wait, we didn’t’ go over [Fernseher]. |
| Judith: Yes, that comes next. |
| Chuck: Ok. |
| Judith: So [Fernsehen], “television”, [fernsehen] with a small F, the verb “to watch television”. And then we have [Fernseher, der Fernseher]. |
| Chuck: “TV”, as in the actual device. |
| Judith: Yes. |
| Chuck: Ok, so [Fernsehen] is just the concept of television and then [Fernseher] is the actual device that sits in your home. |
| Judith: Yes. And this is masculine, like all nouns ending in ER and the plural is the same, [Die Fernseher]. |
| Chuck: Ok. |
| Judith: And next. [Bundesliga] |
| Chuck: This is a very important word if you plan to visit Germany. It’s Federal League, although you don’t actually have to know that it means that. |
| Judith: Yes. [Bundesliga] Well, it generally means the “Federal League” but this could be used for, like, hockey and basketball and everything, but if you don’t specify what sport then it means soccer, “Soccer Federal League”. |
| Chuck: I guess it’s actually more like national league as far as, like, American sports go. |
| Judith: Yeah. Well, I'm not familiar enough with American sports but it’s the highest league where the top clubs play. |
| Chuck: Yeah, so you can think of it like the national basketball association national hockey league, but in this case think of it as soccer, generally. |
| Judith: Yes. Unless people say ice hockey, [Bundesliga], then it’s clear it’s about hockey. |
| Chuck: Yeah. |
| Judith: [Die Bundesliga] it’s feminine. Next. [Gegen] |
| Chuck: Against. |
| Judith: [Gegen] |
| Chuck: Against. |
| Judith: Next. [Spannend] |
| Chuck: Thrilling. |
| Judith: [Spannend, spannend] |
| Chuck: Thrilling. |
| Judith: Next. [Unsinn] |
| Chuck: Nonsense. |
| Judith: [Unsinn, Unsinn] So literally this means “un-sense” because [Sinn] is the sense of the meaning. |
| Chuck: Yeah, and a lot of German people would think it’s nonsense to change away from watching soccer on TV. |
| Judith: Especially if you’re planning to watch basketball instead. Next word. [Wegschalten] |
| Chuck: “To zap”, literally “to switch away”. |
| Judith: Yes, [Wegschalten, wegschalten]. |
| Chuck: I think “zap” is actually British but ok. |
| Judith: How do you say it in American? |
| Chuck: I think actually we just say “change channels”, I can’t think of any slang for that. |
| Judith: Ok, “change channels”. Next. [Wozu] |
| Chuck: What for. |
| Judith: [Wozu] |
| Chuck: What for. |
| Judith: Next. [Sollen] |
| Chuck: Shall. |
| Judith: [Sollen]. Next. [Einschlafen] |
| Chuck: To fall asleep. |
| Judith: [Einschlafen, einschlafen] |
| Chuck: To fall asleep. |
| Judith: And the [Ein] splits off, as usual. So [Ich schlafe ein]. |
| Chuck: You’re going to sleep already? |
| Judith: No, just an example. |
| Chuck: We have a lesson to finish here. |
| Judith: Yes. Next. [Vorschlag] |
| Chuck: Suggestion. |
| Judith: Yeah, [Der Vorschlag]. |
| Chuck: The suggestion. |
| Judith: And the plural is [Vorschläge]. |
| Chuck: Suggestions. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Judith: And finally, one expression - [Geschirr spülen]. |
| Chuck: To wash dishes. |
| Judith: [Geschirr spülen] |
| Chuck: To wash dishes and notice that [Geschirr] doesn’t actually means “dishes”. It means all of the utensils, glasses, everything. |
| Judith: And [Spülen] is not clearly “to wash”. It’s a special verb, which is why we’re giving you this as an expression - [Geschirr spülen]. |
| Chuck: Yeah. I can’t think of any other sense that [Spülen] is used for. Can you? |
| Judith: I think if you have problems with your ears, say, then the doctor might [Spülen] it, which means like to have water go in and out again or something. |
| Chuck: Ok. |
| Judith: But, really, it’s so uncommon to hear [Spülen] in any other sense that you can even just say [Ich muss noch spülen] and it’s already implied that you’re going to do the dishes. |
| Chuck: Yeah, that’s true, actually. [Geschirr] is pretty much only used with this so… |
| Judith: Yeah. |
| Chuck: Guess, unless you’re talking about how great your china is at home. Even then, I don’t think you say [Ich habe gute Geschirr]. No, it’s just weird. |
| Judith: [Maybe Geschirr abräumen] Like in the youth hostel, where you have to take your plate and put it somewhere because there’s no waitresses to do that. |
| Chuck: Pretty much. We just learned these words together is good enough cause, you see, we’ve been having to think outside of our normal context to figure out other uses for these words. |
| Judith: Yes. So this is why we’re giving you an expression - [Geschirr spülen]. |
| Chuck: Yeah. |
| CULTURAL INSIGHTS |
| Judith: And now what shall we talk about? |
| Chuck: Well, I think we’ve talked enough about washing dishes. Are you asking me if I have a [Vorschlag]? Well, I think we could cover soccer in German, I think it’s pretty important and… |
| Judith: Yeah, the [Bundesliga]. Soccer is everywhere in Germany, it’s our national sport. More than six million people are registered members of the [Deutsche Fußball-Bund], the DFB, German soccer association. |
| Chuck: DFB? |
| Judith: Well, if you hear it in spoken German people generally don’t say [Deutsche Fußball-Bund] cause it’s way too long. They just say DFB, as in “the DFB has done badly again and they’re all corrupt and…” It’s one of those abbreviations that`s pronounced and that you actually hear. |
| Chuck: Yeah. |
| Judith: So this is the German soccer association and… even if it’s six million people registered, obviously there’s a lot more people that just watch the sport. And whenever Germany has won a game, you will find it very hard to escape the euphoria. It’s about the only time you see German flags. |
| Chuck: You might also find it hard to go to sleep before 2 AM if you live in the center of Berlin, for example. |
| Judith: Yeah, or you might find it hard to find an S-Bahn that’s not filled with drunk and singing fans. |
| Chuck: And smoking probably even. Or anyway… But national league, [Bundesliga], consists of the top 18 soccer clubs. The majority of good clubs come from North Rhine [Westphalia]. |
| Judith: [Nordrhein-Westfalen] This is where a lot of big cities are, that`s why there are so many good clubs among them. And also it’s an area with a lot of coal and steel industry, in the [Ruhrgebiet]. And these industry players used to lay the groundwork for homegrown soccer towns. Each company would have their own company team and these company teams were good to figure out who the real talents are. |
| Chuck: [inaudible 00:10:38] tell you. You think all the great talents there? Most of the time nowadays the players are imported there. |
| Judith: Yes, for most of German teams that play in the [Bundesliga] they have a lot of foreign stars, especially Brazilians and… |
| Chuck: Yeah, that’s not quite true for the second league and smaller leagues though. |
| Judith: Yeah, [inaudible 00:10:56] yeah. There are many leagues apart from the [Bundesliga] but the [Bundesliga] is like the top. I’d say right now Bayern München is probably the best soccer club or, if not the best, it’s at least the most famous soccer club. The thing is that it has fans all over the country and even abroad. When the fans of other clubs usually have ties to the city or the region the club comes from. You won’t find too many [Bochum] fans in Berlin, I don’t think. So soccer is a big topic in Germany and I think to learn more about it you should just listen to our audio blog number six, which is all about [Fußball]. |
| Chuck: Wait, [Fußball]. I think we got that in English too. |
| Judith: Yes, but that’s something else. That’s something we called [Kicker] in German, it’s table soccer. |
| Chuck: It`s pretty funny isn`t it? |
| Judith: [Fußball] is the German word, “soccer”. |
| Chuck: So Americans use [Fußball] which is the German word for “soccer” and Germans use [Kicker], which doesn’t really make any sense but it’s called that anyway. |
| Judith: Yeah, let’s… Come on, we need to get going, do some grammar. |
| Chuck: Ok, we need to go to, so [Zu] some grammar? |
| Judith: No, that would be [Nach]. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| What do you know about [Zu]? |
| Chuck: It’s often used right before an infinitive at the end of a word but I never really realized why. |
| Judith: Yes. When English uses an infinitive in the sentence, then German uses the preposition [Zu]. For example, [Ich habe keine Lust nach Hause zu gehen]. So [Zu gehen], “to go” - "I'm not in the mood to go home.” Or [Ich bin stolz darauf einer der besten zu sein], “I'm proud of being one of the best”. So [Einer der besten zu sein], “of being one of the best”, “I'm proud to be one of the best” if you like. |
| Chuck: The rule for these cases is to place the [Zu] immediately in front of the verb. This means that when you have two verbs piled up at the end of your sub clause, the [Zu] is placed in the middle. So, for example, [Schlafen zu gehen], “to go to sleep”. And when you have the splitting verb, the [Zu] is inserted between the prefix and the verb stem. |
| Judith: This is the really crazy part. You get verbs like [Mitzukommen]. |
| Chuck: To come along. |
| Judith: [Abzugeben] |
| Chuck: To give away. |
| Judith: And so on. For example, [Hast du Lust mitzukommen?] – “Are you in the mood to come along?” Normally, for the infinitive, in a dictionary or the like, you don’t need the [Zu]. But in a phrase like that you do. And additionally, [Zu] has the meaning of “too” as in [Zu spät], “too late”. This is often used in a pattern with [Zu] in the other meaning. So here’s some useful usage patterns for [Zu]. For example, you use [Zu] with an adjective in the sense of “too” and then [Um zu] with a verb. For example, [Zu stolz um zu fragen]. “Too proud to ask”. Or [Etwas zu essen],[Etwas zu] with a verb. |
| Chuck: Something to eat. |
| Judith: Yes, [Etwas zu trinken]. |
| Chuck: “Something to drink”. That sounds good too. |
| Judith: So that’s another pattern. Or [Es ist] with an adjective or noun, and then [Zu] and a verb. As we saw in the dialogue, [Es ist Unsinn wegzuschalten]. |
| Chuck: It’s nonsense to change the channel. |
| Judith: Yes. Or [Es ist schön zu leben], “it’s…” |
| Chuck: Beautiful to live. |
| Judith: Yeah, la vita e bella. So these are some really common patterns for [Zu]. And I think that that’s it for today. [Das wars für heute] |
Outro |
| Chuck: So don’t forget to stop by GermanPod101, comment on this lesson and pick up the lesson notes. |
| Judith: It has the conversation transcript. |
| Chuck: Vocabulary, sample sentences, a grammar explanation. |
| Judith: And a cultural insight section. |
| Chuck: Seeing the German really helps you remember faster. |
| Judith: But don`t take our word for it, please have a look for yourself. |
| Chuck: And let us know what you think. |
| Judith: Wir freuen uns von euch zu hören. |
| Chuck: See you next week. |
| Judith: Bis nächste Woche. |
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